§ 37. Mr. Andrew TurnerTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many care home beds there were in(a) December 2000 and (b) December 2001. [19692]
§ Jacqui SmithThe main statistical collections on care home beds relate to 31 March each year. There were 539,200 care home beds at 31 March 2000 and 528,000 at 31 March 2001. The Department is currently collecting information on the number of care beds at 30 November 2001. Data on care home beds are requested by local capacity planning groups (that is aggregated at health authority level) as part of work to plan winter capacity. Details including proformas, can be found on the internet at http://www.doh.cov.ukkapacityplanning/capplan.htm